Steven Gibbs

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Nice Quote

I ran across this old quote from Philip Yancy in What's So Amazing About Grace.

One China expert estimates that the revival in China represents the greatest numerical revival in the history of the church. In an odd way, the government hostility ultimately worked to the church’s advantage. Shut out of the power structures, Chinese Christians devoted themselves to worship and evangelism, the original mission of the church, and did not much concern themselves with politics. They concentrated on changing lives, not changing laws.

Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't be involved in governmental affairs. But our primary mission is larger and more transcendent. We will stay focused on why we exist. When we lose sight of our purpose, we resort to second rate methods of operating, which result in judgmentalism and control.

Saturday experiences

Everyone should live on the wild side!

Simply Summer

Invite a friend to join you at Stonecreek this Sunday, July 13, 10:30 a.m., for week two in our Simply Summer series. Ken Murphy will be interviewing Dr. Shawn Stoever of WinShape Marriage on maximizing our relationships. No matter the health of your relationships, this Sunday will help take them to the next level.

Took One For The Team

Yes, I was soaking wet. It was cold. People had fun at my expense. They laughed, I cried, but in the end we had a blast.

Life Day

That would be a huge understatement. Below I have posted the original post from John's accident last year on July 5. It only includes the injuries that we knew about at the time, which didn't include the fractured larynx and other various injuries. It's amazing how naive we were and how little we really knew. I suppose that is part of the process that God uses to lead you through difficulties.

To celebrate, John has decided that he wants a pretzel from the mall. That was one of the things he wanted but couldn’t have when he was in the hospital. After that, I have no idea, but we’re going to let him rule the day.

Emotionally, it’s been a lot to process. You learn quite a bit about God during these times, as well as about yourself and those around you. In some way, what happened to John is what has happened to all of us spiritually. We have been in a wreck, and we need someone who is capable to give us life. That's Jesus.

Jesus came for life. Every day for a follower of Christ is a life day. Our responsibility is to reflect that life to those who need it. The church, in a sense, is an ICU, administering life to those that we know. We could sit and lick our wounds, and keep life to ourself. Or we can carry it to those around us.

What if we viewed those around us as the picture of John in the ICU? On life support, attached to artificial forms of life, literally dying for someone to save them. How does that change us?

This is a picture of John in the hospital. While not graphic or up close, be warned.
John in the hospital

This is a picture of John's first "outing" to the mall. This is when he wanted a pretzel so bad!
John at the mall

Accident

Some of you may know of the accident, some may not. Here we go:

Wow. Is there anything else to say? It's at times like this that you really understand what it means to be in the hands of God. I'll give you a bullet point of what I can remember to date about John's (my 8 year old son) accident and recovery.

He was traveling in a golf cart that tipped over down a ravine. He was life flighted to Egleston, where he underwent immediate surgery. This was around 2:00 yesterday. We didn't get to see him until 9:00 last night.

Injuries to date:
9 centimeter cut from middle of left cheek to neck. This has caused major issues, with blood pooling in the back of his throat and blocking his breathing.
7 centimeter cut on upper right thigh.
Broken right humerus (upper arm) - I mean snapped in two. Should not require surgery. They set it this morning in a splint. Fun to watch.
Broken left orbital
Broken left petrus (inner ear bone) - blood is still coming out of this ear.
Fractured skull behind left ear
Fractured left jaw
He has lost most of his front teeth.
He is on a breathing tube - they removed it prematurely, and had to re-insert. Boy, was that fun. They had a VERY difficult time, and had to call in several different skill levels before they could finish.

They will scope him on Monday to determine the cause of blood pooling in the back of his throat. This is causing his breathing problems, and they feel that it is a soft tissue injury. It should heal itself.
Today we will see the oral surgeon, plastic surgeon, ENT, OB-GYN (oh wait, not that one :)) - and who knows who else.
He is undergoing an EKG because he's had a couple of blood pressure problems. Especially when they set the humerus!

While we are moving in a positive direction, we're not out of the woods yet, as there may still be things pop up that we are currently unaware of. I do ask that you continue to pray. Thanks for your support, and know you are NOT bothering us. This is the church in action.

Please check here for updates as well as Ken's blog.

VDCCF

Since my son Ethan turned 13 this year, we have entered into an intentional discipleship process. One of our goals was physical - the Peachtree Road Race. We stayed motivated with the thought of the t-shirt, as well as a Venti Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino.

Frappuccino is too much dessert for me, so I treated myself to a Quad Grande Americano. The sweet taste of accomplishment!

One Year Later

As many of you know, this Saturday is the 1 year anniversary of John’s accident. It has definitely brought back many emotions and memories. Some good, and some that… well, you get the picture.

Our family is headed down for Ethan and I to run the Peachtree tomorrow. As part of our trip, we’re going down to visit the Egleston PICU for the first time since we left last July. On Saturday I’ll re-post my original post from last July 5, with hopefully some pictures.